asked the Minister for Defence the amount paid to his Department by a film company (name supplied) for use of Army personnel when on location in County Galway.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Army Personnel in Film.
51.
A total sum of £74,700 has been paid to my Department by the film company concerned in respect of the provision of military personnel and transport for a film. This sum was by way of advance payment and was in respect of personnel and transport supplied both at Galway and Athlone.
The compilation of accounts in respects of all sums due to my Department by the company has not yet been completed and until such time as this has been done it will not be possible to say what amount is due in respect of the personnel provided in County Galway.
52.
asked the Minister for Defence what amount was paid per head daily to Army privates by his Department when engaged by a film company (name supplied) on location in County Galway; if ration allowance was stopped during that period by the Department; and the amount so saved.
The personnel referred to by the Deputy were paid their normal Army rates of pay by my Department while engaged with the film company in question. They were, in addition, paid a special daily gratuity by the company for every day of the period during which they were available to the company, including days on which they were not actually engaged in film work.
Some of the men concerned were in receipt of ration allowance prior to commencing work on the film because they lived out of barracks. While they were working on the film, however, they were accommodated in barracks and the ration allowance ceased to be paid to them because they were in receipt of rations in kind in the form of meals, some of which were supplied to them in barracks and some on the film set. Defence Force Regulations do not permit the issue of ration allowance to personnel who are in receipt of rations in kind. This arrangement did not result in any saving to my Department at the expense of the personnel concerned.
The Minister has not given me the reply I wanted—how much the Army personnel were allowed per day while they were on the film set.
It is not easy to answer the question directly because there are different grades of pay. I can give the daily rates charged for the various categories. Is that what the Deputy wants or does he want to know what exactly the troops were getting from the film company?
Through the Minister, from the film company.
They were paid directly through the company £1 5s 6d per day. That was the rate soldiers were paid.
Where did this film come from—from America?
One shilling an hour.
Is the Minister aware that ordinary civilians, doing the same work as the soldiers, were paid between £4 and £8 per day while our Army personnel were given the miserly sum of £1 5s 6d?
We were not paying them that. The film company were giving the £1 5s 6d per day to privates. We paid them the ordinary rates of pay in addition and we recovered that from the film company.
(Cavan): Is it correct to say that the amount paid by the film company to the Army personnel had been, in fact, negotiated or at least approved by the Army authorities before the Army personnel were allowed to do the work?
That is correct. Everything in connection with the provision of the troops was the subject of arrangements made between the Department of Defence and the film company.
(Cavan): Does the Minister not, therefore, think he should have insisted that the Army personnel were paid the same amount by this wealthy film company as the civilians?
Comparisons do not always work out in the way you expect. The troops were paid for each day, whether on film work or not, and, as far as I know, the ordinary civilian extras were paid for the days on which they were engaged in film work but were not paid when they were not working.
(Cavan): The film company got cheap labour at the expense of the Army.
The civilians were paid whether they were on location or not.
That is not my information.
It is my information. I saw what happened. Will the Minister not agree that the Army were treated rather shabbily, with the Minister making money on them while the civilians made up to £8 per day?
I did not make any money on them.
Is it not true that private soldiers got less than half that amount, with their Army pay—that they got less than half what the civilians got from the film company for the period they were out as extras—and is it not true that a number of them had less take-home wages with the combined rates?
It is not.
The Minister says it is not but the fact is that it is because of a loss of rations. They had less, after working long hours, than they would have ordinarily. Will the Minister not agree that it is not a good idea at all to have cut-price extras supplied by the Army?
The range of pay was from £7 1s per week for a private, two-star, of the line class with less than three years service, to £10 19s 2d a week for a private, three-star, of the technician class, with nine or more years service. The gratuity of £1 5s 6d a day was paid also. Privates living out of barracks receive a cash allowance of 5/5d per day. That is what they were losing per day in relation to rations. It is 5/5d now; it had been 5/-.
Contrary to what the Minister says, is the Minister not aware that the civilian extras were paid whether they were on the set or not? Is he not aware that otherwise they would go and the company could not have got extras?
Civilians taken on by this film company in Galway, as I understand it, were paid per day for the days they were on film work only and if Deputy Coogan has evidence to the contrary I should be glad to get it.
I am calling Question No. 53. We cannot debate this question all day; it is now 4 o'clock.
Is it not a fact that you made money on it?
We made no money on it and I know what the troops think, too.
(Interruptions.)
Order. Question No. 53.